On Saturday, December 19, New Mexicans across the state will hold a “service protest” to oppose Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s COVID-19 grocery store capacity restrictions letting no more than 75 people, including staff, into each store at one time.
According to the organizers, “The governor’s restriction equates to roughly 40-feet of social distancing in a store the size of Wal-Mart, amounting to a whole house worth of space for each person in the store. However, the unintended consequence of this restriction is that those in the line are in much closer proximity to each other for a far longer period of time than they would be if the store was simply allowed to operate at 25% capacity.”
The service protest will feature “easily identifiable” “breadline volunteers” holding signs while they wait in-line in the place of “mothers with children, the elderly, those on [a] fixed income, and persons with disabilities at NM’s hardest hit grocery stores.”
“The 75-person restriction is harming New Mexicans, who often have to wait outside in the cold for over an hour just to enter a store to buy food. As a result, panic buying has occurred. Basic necessities such as milk, eggs, meat, and toilet paper are often no longer on the shelves when those that have waited in lines finally get inside,” write the organizers.
The Piñon Post has exclusively reported on the long lines at grocery stores, which Gov. Lujan Grisham’s office claims are merely “Republican talking points.” Tripp Stelnicki, the Governor’s communications director, claimed the long lines are simply a “minor inconvenience.”
The protest will happen from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in 12 cities across the state, including at the Albuquerque Costco on 1420 N Renaissance Blvd NE, the Las Cruces: Wal-Mart at 1550 S. Valley Dr., and at other locations in Santa Fe, Portales, Clovis, Edgewood, Roswell, Farmington, Alamogordo, Ruidoso, Grants, and Carlsbad.
To participate in this protest, please contact Sarah Smith at ConcernedforNM@gmail.com for more information.
Hey John, Can you confirm the date on this post. Dec 19 is a Saturday.
Yes, that is correct It is on Saturday, the 19th from 11 am to 3 pm
MY HUSBAND, DAN MCBRIDE IS A 96 YEAR WOUNDED VETERAN OF WORLD 11 WHO HAS TO STAND IN LINE A HOUR OR MORE TO BUY HIS GROCERIES. THIS IS WHAT THEY ALL FOUGHT FOR?
We should stage a huge sit-in in the Roundhouse before Jan 20. Demand an end to draconian restrictions against citizens and small businesses–while taxpayer dollars fill the pockets of illegals and megacorporations, without the consent of the governed, and while rulers (not public servants!) apply useless “rules for thee but not for me.” Make that beejweled heifer stand in a breadline! We should also demand paper ballots and totally transparent counts and audits, televised. And it’d be great to loudly and round-the-clock picket the homes of all the elected-dunce fascists. Don’t be nice, conservatives.
On second thought, we should also pack the Roundhouse during session. I’ve worked a session there. I’d like to think that the good people on the Legislative Council Service will beg that beast to concede to our demands.